It doesn’t get much hotter than the EGG cookin’ in July! Make sure to keep yourself hydrated with a bit of whatever you’re using for the Beer Can Chicken. Ice Cream Sandwiches are also a great way to stay cool. Looking for some great ideas for a summer cook out? Try out a Pimento Cheeseburger or Dr. BBQ’s Spare Rib Surprise. Just don’t be surprised if your neighbors stop by for a quick bite when they smell what you’re cooking!

My first pork butt

I cooked my first pork butt this weekend. Since I had a lot of things going on this weekend, I opted to try the turbo method as explained by @Charlie_Tuna . In fact, I IM'ed him and got some solid advice. Everything he predicted turned out to be true.

First, I prepared the fire by loading it up and using a chimney starter on a small batch. After dumping the starter batch in, I waited about ten minutes and added my pecan chunks. I used about three handfuls of half-fist sized chunks with a big one or two thrown in.

I did my homemade rub and mustard on a 5#, bone-in shoulder butt. I trimmed the fat cap off. I did not inject because (1) I don't have an injector and (2) I have never made a butt before. I wanted to have a baseline set so I could compare future cooks.

I put the but on at 10:00 and used my Maverick for the first time. I was surprised to find that my dome and my grid temps were basically the same. I thought the grid was going to be cooler.

At 12:30, the butt was only at 140*. @Charlie Tuna told me his Egg temps start creeping up during the cook and mine was no different. It was constantly edging up to the 260* range without any adjustment; which is a bit unusual for my Egg. It's usually set it and forget it.

I had to leave for a party, so I just left it on. By 2:00 my wife was surprised by the Maverick's alarm indicating it had hit 160*; she turned it off. At 3:30 it was in the 165* range, solidly in the stall.

I wrapped it three times in foil and cranked up the heat to 350* because i was running out of time to FTC before 6:00 dinnertime. At 5:00, the butt had it 199, so I pulled it, and popped it in the cooler. I took it out at 6:00 and it was still 180*.

Here are the results (pre-pulling):

Here is the pulled version:

Finally, here are some new potatoes steamed with chives from our garden and butter (from the store).

The family really, really liked it.

I think I needed a more flavorful rub for that much meat. I'm going to try to find some Byron's. The bark was a beautiful color but not the caramelized shell I I thought would result.

I may inject next time but this was so incredibly moist, that the only reason I would want to do so, would be to supplement flavor. In the end, I was really happy that I had the turbo method available to make sure I didn't run out of time. Also, I was pretty happy that I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night to monitor the cook. I will definitely be doing this again.